Member-only story
Why Your Organization Should Care About Social Sustainability
And how it is often a prerequisite for economic sustainability
During my years as an online English teacher, I have watched one of the companies with whom I work go from an industry leader to scrambling to get by. Along the same timeline, language trainers went from very happy to be working with the company, to fed up, bitter and jaded.
I’d like to tell you a story. It’s a story of a company that prioritized economic growth while neglecting social sustainability, and the resultant fallout. It’s a story with a moral, so that your company can avoid making the mistakes ours did. But first, let’s frame this in the context of sustainability.
What are the 4 dimensions of sustainability?
Sustainability is the ability of a system to exist continuously. When the system runs the risk of depleting a resource(s) necessary for its continuity, it is not sustainable. Here is what is meant by each of the 4 dimensions of sustainability.
Ecological sustainability: The maintenance of a healthy ecosystem, despite human interference. Can this ecosystem continue functioning well indefinitely, taking into account human inputs and outputs?
